Garden of the Soul: Exploring Metaphorical Landscapes of Spirituality

Garden of the Soul

Exploring Metaphorical Landscapes of Spirituality

Mark Mah

GARDEN OF THE SOUL

Exploring Metaphorical Landscapes of Spirituality

Copyright © 2014 Mark Mah. All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in critical publications or reviews, no part of this book may be reproduced in any manner without prior written permission from the publisher. Write: Permissions, Wipf and Stock Publishers, 199 W. 8th Ave., Suite 3, Eugene, OR 97401.

All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise noted, are from The Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Wipf & Stock

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isbn 13: 978-1-62564-401-5

eisbn 13: 978-1-63087-251-9

Manufactured in the U.S.A.

In memory of

my mother and brother

1

The Power of Metaphor

Strange words simply puzzle us; ordinary words convey only what we know already. It is from metaphor that we can best get hold of something fresh.

—Aristotle

¹

Tell It Slant

What is the best approach for a prophet to rebuke a powerful king about his misdemeanor without losing his life? If the prophet confronts the king directly he may turn defensive and deny his wrongdoing. How can the prophet go about telling the king of his wrongdoing, getting him to admit his sins, and at the same time saving his own life? The way is to take an indirect approach or to tell it slant.

The prophet Nathan, instead of directly confronting King David of his sins of adultery and murder, decided to tell it slant by the use of a metaphorical story. He told the king that a certain town has two inhabitants: a rich man who owns a large number of sheep and cattle and a poor man who has nothing except one little ewe lamb. The poor man treats the lamb like his own child. It shares his food, drinks from his cup, and sleeps in his lap. Apparently the little lamb is the poor man’s most precious asset. Now a guest comes to the rich man’s house. Instead of killing one of his livestock to prepare a meal for his guest, he decides to slaughter the poor man’s ewe lamb to serve his guest (2 Sam 12:1–7).

David, on hearing this story, was furious and angry at the rich man. The king declared that the man deserved to die because he showed no pity on the poor and helpless. He should pay four times the price of the ewe lamb as compensation for mistreating the poor man. David was fuming because he abhorred the injustice meted out by the rich man in this story. It was not right to take someone else’s property when one could afford not to. It was unjust to take advantage of someone who neither had the power nor means to resist. It was immoral to deprive someone his only valuable asset that gave him the most joy.

David’s behavior and reaction to the story is expected. He is expected to stand up for the poor and oppressed in society as Israel’s king. As judge he defends the afflicted and saves the needy from the oppressor. Under the monarchy in Israel, the king is the final court of appeal because he is responsible for the promotion of justice and righteousness in the land. It is a common practice for people to bring their complaints to the king seeking justice. An example is the case of the woman from Tekoa who appeals to King David to intervene on behalf of her son in order to save him from those who want his life (2 Sam 14:4–11). Another classic example is the famous story of two women who seek King Solomon’s help to settle a dispute over who is the real mother of a newborn baby (1 Kgs 3:6–28).

Nathan seized the opportunity to reveal who the rich man was. He pointed his finger at the king and said, You are the man. In the story told by the prophet, David was the rich man, the poor man was Uriah the Hittite, and the ewe lamb was Bathsheba. Earlier David had an affair with Uriah’s wife and got her pregnant. David schemed to have Uriah killed in battle in order to cover up his sin. He used his power to cover up his sins thinking that no one would know. Nathan was able to convince the king of his criminal behavior by using metaphors to tell a familiar story. He was able to save his neck as well by telling it slant.

A metaphor makes use of visual language to grab attention and invoke the emotions of the listener. Even the phrase "I see what you mean is metaphorical. It figuratively means, I understand what you are saying." David did not use his eyes to listen to the prophet Nathan. He got the message loud and clear by listening to the story. He was enlightened when he identified himself with the story at the emotional and cognitive level.

We tend to respond more easily and intuitively to images than just explanatory words. The caption Smoking is bad for health is printed on every box of cigarettes sold in the market. The caption is obviously not working as expected. Graphic pictures of cancerous tumors and diseased lungs are now printed on every cigarette box. Recently, the Australian government went a step further by having every box printed in a certain shade of dull green. Hopefully, along with the graphic pictures, this will deter more people from taking up the habit of smoking. This morning, while driving home after a good workout of climbing and walking at the botanical gardens, I came across an accident. A smashed-up motorbike was left by the roadside. The sight really shocked me when I noticed the dried blood stains on the road. At that moment, I cautioned myself to be more careful on the road. I would not have this kind of resolve if I just read about the accident in a newspaper.

A good metaphor appeals to the senses, especially the sense of sight. In this case a picture is worth more than a thousand words. A picture of a steaming cup of coffee or soup invokes the feeling of warmth and homeliness to many people. It reminds them of the warmth and comfort of home. At one time, the makers of Campbell Soup decided to redesign its packaging. Responding to customers’ comments, the company added steam rising above pictures of soup of tomato, mushroom or chicken. Previously pictures of soup were without steam. Customers indicated that they were emotionally connected to the product if it looked warm.²

Thinking Metaphorically

The pervasive use of metaphors in all sectors of our life is highlighted by James Geary. In his book I Is An Other, he writes:

Metaphor conditions our interpretations of the stock market and, through advertising, it surreptitiously infiltrates our purchasing decisions. In the mouths of politicians, metaphor subtly nudges public opinion; in the minds of business people, it spurs creativity and innovation. In science, metaphor is the preferred nomenclature for new theories and new discoveries; in psychology, it is the natural language of human relationships and emotions.³

Take for instance a weather report broadcasted in Australia (italics are metaphors):

Perth is in the grip of a heat wave with temperatures set to soar to

40

degrees Celsius by the end of the week. Australia is no stranger to extreme weather. Melbourne was pummeled with hailstones the size of golf balls on Saturday. Long term, droughts, bushfires, and floods have all plagued swathes of Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria."⁴

Five metaphors are used in this short paragraph. One metaphor is used for every eleven words. The severity of the weather is highlighted by describing hailstones as big as golf balls and extreme weather conditions to that of a biblical plague. We like to use metaphors to describe the weather in ordinary conversation: It rained cats and dogs last night, or The wind howled throughout the night.

Politicians love to communicate using metaphors. People identify easily with metaphors because they are familiar and easy to understand. Metaphors make complex ideas simple because they compare an abstract or unknown concept to what the listener already knows. Take for example, the term fiscal cliff, coined by Ben Bernanke, chairman of the United States Federal Reserve. According to some economists, the danger of falling over the fiscal cliff would have become a reality if expiring tax cuts and overall government spending cuts were not resolved by the end of 2012. The country would have plunge into a recession if these two measures were allowed to proceed as scheduled. This would have undermined consumer confidence, depressed household incomes, increased unemployment rates, and weakened the stock market. The mental image of falling over the cliff made people uneasy and insecure. The government was hard pressed by the public to do something about the fiscal cliff before the deadline was reached.

When Deng Xiaoping, the paramount leader who ruled China from 1978 to 1989, was asked about the imminent rise of corruption due to China opening her doors to a market economy, he replied with these words: When you open the door, flies will get in. In other words, it is inevitable that corruption will take place, but the benefits of a market economy far outweigh the negative effects of corrupted practices. Deng was not sure where the country was moving economically when she opened her doors to the world. When asked for a roadmap he had none because the country was still experimenting and getting used to an economy set by the market and not by planners. He replied using these words: Cross the river by feeling the stones with your feet.

Our brain is wired to think metaphorically because it has the capacity for imagination. We find difficulty in communicating and making sense of the world without the use of metaphors. Metaphors are so pervasive in our daily living that we are often unaware of them even when we use them all the time. As mentioned, the metaphorical phrase, I see what you mean is used so often that we do not think of it as a metaphor anymore. Statements like Time flies or It’s a jungle out there have become part of our everyday conversation.

Tony Blair, former prime minister of the United Kingdom, gave a speech on school reforms in 2005:

Over the last fifty years, state education has improved. And that improvement has accelerated in the last eight years. But successive reforms since the war have not always delivered all that they aimed to deliver. What is different this time is that we have learned what works. We have the experience of successful schools. What we must see now is a system of independent state schools, underpinned by fair admissions and fair funding, where parents are equipped and enabled to drive improvement, driven by the aspiration of parents (our italics).⁵

Most of us are not aware that the metaphors used in this speech aim to reflect a worldview with the intent to shape thinking and influence public opinions on education. The words in italics (accelerated, deliver, driven) are mechanistic metaphors used to imply that education can be engineered mechanically like a well-oiled machine.⁶ The state government, the school, and parents must play their assigned roles to foster greater growth and efficiency. The government’s role is to draft policies that promote fair play and funding. The parents, who harbor high hopes for their children to excel educationally, will assume the role of motivator to apply pressure on the schools to perform. The schools, given the independence and mandate to chart their own course and set fair standards, should be able to deliver the results. If each party, like different parts of a machine, fulfills its assigned roles or functions,